Cantor helped local business fail

To the Editor:

When Eric Cantor was campaigning for House Representative for Virginia’s 7th district in 2012, one of his main topics was the importance of job creation and the role of small business in creating jobs.

Cantor visited several small businesses in his area, on his “Victory Tour” touting his “no cost job plan” to help small businesses. One local business he visited was the Solid Grounds Coffee House on Main Street, in Louisa. A big problem here, Democrats were not welcome to attend this meeting.

Matter of fact, some Democrats did show up at Solid Grounds to visit with their representative. Eric Cantor’s job is to represent all the people in the 7th congressional district, but Democrats were not welcome and were asked to leave. It is my opinion, the owner of the coffee shop believed that any time spent with Cantor was for Republicans only.

One Democrat “stood his ground” at Solid Grounds, asking to see and speak to his congressman. But that was not to be and he was physically escorted out of the business, where he was bodily slammed to the ground, handcuffed and arrested.

Recently, Solid Grounds has closed and been evicted because they could not pay their rent due to lack of customers. Before the visit of Eric Cantor, this coffee shop was a great place to relax, read and have a good cup of coffee, but they lost a lot of business after the arrest of the 7th district Democrat citizen.

I am one of many Democrats who did not continue to enjoy the coffee and savories at Solid Grounds. Remember, to have a successful business it should be a friendly, inviting environment for all. Money from Democrats is just the same as money from Republicans.

Louisa needs a coffee shop that welcomes everyone regardless of his or her political affiliation. Doesn’t look like Eric Cantor’s plan helped this small business. It may be appropriate to say that Cantor destroyed this small business.